Sudden Hardware Death

My friends know I've had some bad experiences. I'm no stranger to heartbreak. But this time was different, and I told them so. It's been good, I told them. Really good.

For years we worked together, played together, laughed together, sharing the good times. Everything seemed perfect.

Then, suddenly, gone.

Today, my APC Back-UPS ES 750 Uninterruptible Power Supply abruptly departed this world. It had been making little peeps for a few weeks -- a high pitched sound I thought might be a saw operating somewhere down the street. It never occurred to me that this might be it; that these could be our final days together.

When it went, I was moving plugs around, trying to attach just one more DC transformer. I moved my Macbook Pro power brick to a socket next to the master power button. I moved another plug, and accidentally brushed the brick. The button went down, halfway. I heard a pop.

My old friend, it was an accident. When the magic smoke came out of you, I knew you were gone, but I poked at your circuit breaker 20 times anyway. Maybe you'll cool down, I thought, hopelessly. Maybe everything will be okay.

And seriously, WTF, circuit breaker? YOU HAD ONE JOB!

So many wonderful memories. The house in darkness; you beeping reassuringly; me cackling while I carefully, without haste or worry, save my documents to disk. Your automatic switching feature automatically turning out the LED lights around my desk when I put my computer to sleep, and creepily turning them back on when the computer wakes itself up in the middle of the night. Your crazy status monitoring cable, with a USB plug on one end and RJ45 on the other. Your green status light that is always so reassuring. ...was. Was reassuring.

I remember these things, and I mourn.

Farewell, sweet UPS. May your battery discharge always be shallow.

In other news, my Apple Time Capsule died for the second time today, stupid piece of crap.